(24-11-2015 03:41 PM)Fireball Wrote: Got to love Ambrose Bierce. I'm working my way through the Devil's Dictionary and this gem came to light-

Inadmissable, adj.

Not competent to be considered. Said of certain kinds of testimony which juries are supposed to be unfit to be entrusted with, and which judges, therefore, rule out, even of proceedings before themselves alone. Hearsay evidence is inadmissible because the person quoted was unsworn and is not before the court for examination; yet most momentous actions, military, political, commercial and of every other kind, are daily undertaken on hearsay evidence. There is no religion in the world that has any other basis than hearsay evidence. Revelation is hearsay evidence; that the Scriptures are the word of God we have only the testimony of men long dead whose identity is not clearly established and who are not known to have been sworn in any sense. Under the rules of evidence as they now exist in this country, no single assertion in the Bible has in its support any evidence admissible in a court of law. It cannot be proved that the battle of Blenheim ever was fought, that there was such as person as Julius Caesar, such an empire as Assyria.

But as records of courts of justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.

(24-11-2015 03:41 PM)Fireball Wrote: Got to love Ambrose Bierce. I'm working my way through the Devil's Dictionary and this gem came to light-

Inadmissable, adj.

Not competent to be considered. Said of certain kinds of testimony which juries are supposed to be unfit to be entrusted with, and which judges, therefore, rule out, even of proceedings before themselves alone. Hearsay evidence is inadmissible because the person quoted was unsworn and is not before the court for examination; yet most momentous actions, military, political, commercial and of every other kind, are daily undertaken on hearsay evidence. There is no religion in the world that has any other basis than hearsay evidence. Revelation is hearsay evidence; that the Scriptures are the word of God we have only the testimony of men long dead whose identity is not clearly established and who are not known to have been sworn in any sense. Under the rules of evidence as they now exist in this country, no single assertion in the Bible has in its support any evidence admissible in a court of law. It cannot be proved that the battle of Blenheim ever was fought, that there was such as person as Julius Caesar, such an empire as Assyria.

But as records of courts of justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.

I will have to pick this book up tonight.

Might help me stay sane when the famdamily gets into town.

Ambrose Bierce is one bitter, cynical man, but the book is funny as hell. Some references are a little outdated, but that is to be expected. I have the hard copy, but pasted the OP from the online version- I had no intention of typing all that.

(25-11-2015 07:50 AM)RobbyPants Wrote: Kind of makes the notion of swearing on the Bible before giving testimony in court even more ludicrous, doesn't it?

I dunno. I would think swearing fealty to a sovereign who can put you in Hell is a good motivation for telling truth.

Of course, the problem atheists have when they remove the ten commandments isn't only removing God-oaths but the commands to tell the truth, not adultery and not murder! Good job.

I swear on the truth of the Bible, Robby, that if you trust in what Jesus Christ did for us in a horrible death by torture on the cross and His resurrection, that you will inherit eternal life! Don't perish, don't fall short of the grace of God, but trust Him today! God bless you.

Do you really claim that there could be no other source for not killing, not raping, and not lying? Fuck, you are an idiot.

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.

(25-11-2015 02:06 PM)The Q Continuum Wrote: I swear on the truth of the Bible, Robby, that if you trust in what Jesus Christ did for us in a horrible death by torture on the cross and His resurrection, that you will inherit eternal life! Don't perish, don't fall short of the grace of God, but trust Him today! God bless you.

A three-day "death” according to xtians ordained, planned and executed by His will on Himself to save us from a sin He should have prevented but chose to damn us for it till this day unless we trust Him that he has come to His senses by now.

Fuck that shit bro, I’d just as soon believe in Joe Pesci.

“I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.”~Mark Twain
“Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills.”~ Ambrose Bierce

(25-11-2015 02:06 PM)The Q Continuum Wrote: I swear on the truth of the Bible, Robby, that if you trust in what Jesus Christ did for us in a horrible death by torture on the cross and His resurrection, that you will inherit eternal life! Don't perish, don't fall short of the grace of God, but trust Him today! God bless you.

A three-day "death” according to xtians ordained, planned and executed by His will on Himself to save us from a sin He should have prevented but chose to damn us for it till this day unless we trust Him that he has come to His senses by now.

Fuck that shit bro, I’d just as soon believe in Joe Pesci.

Joe bless you!

Don't let those gnomes and their illusions get you down. They're just gnomes and illusions.

(25-11-2015 07:50 AM)RobbyPants Wrote: Kind of makes the notion of swearing on the Bible before giving testimony in court even more ludicrous, doesn't it?

I dunno. I would think swearing fealty to a sovereign who can put you in Hell is a good motivation for telling truth.

Of course, the problem atheists have when they remove the ten commandments isn't only removing God-oaths but the commands to tell the truth, not adultery and not murder! Good job.

I swear on the truth of the Bible, Robby, that if you trust in what Jesus Christ did for us in a horrible death by torture on the cross and His resurrection, that you will inherit eternal life! Don't perish, don't fall short of the grace of God, but trust Him today! God bless you.

Inadmissible post, oscillating in all three coordinate axes from the origin. It even has a circular component. (Physics joke) If I threw your reply into a shredder, there would be shit all over your tiny little universe...you know...the one where the stars got painted on?

You have got to be a POE. If there really were a god, he'd take all you lackwits out and flog you for not using that 3 pounds of jello inside your skull (which you claim your god gave you to use as best you could!) for something besides pretending you know something, and swallowing one fucking book of hearsay as literal truth, while ignoring every other document that doesn't report your putative god, for your own purposes. Pathetic. How do you live with yourself?

(25-11-2015 02:06 PM)The Q Continuum Wrote: I swear on the truth of the Bible, Robby, that if you trust in what Jesus Christ did for us in a horrible death by torture on the cross and His resurrection, that you will inherit eternal life! Don't perish, don't fall short of the grace of God, but trust Him today! God bless you.

A three-day "death” according to xtians ordained, planned and executed by His will on Himself to save us from a sin He should have prevented but chose to damn us for it till this day unless we trust Him that he has come to His senses by now.

Fuck that shit bro, I’d just as soon believe in Joe Pesci.

Two days.

Do the math.

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.